Native Americans

Native
Americans

By: Andrea Westrick, Kiara Tholl, and Amelia Straley

By: A. S.
A. W.

K. T.

Native American Beliefs

SPIRITUALITY is based on Honor, Love,
and Respect.
They HONOR their creators, LOVE all
living things, and have utmost RESPECT
for their Elders.

Ceremonies & Traditions

Native American Culture includes many Ceremonies and

Traditions
Ceremonies may include feasts, music, dances, and other
performances
Traditions are taught by the Elders to carry on cultural
beliefs over the generations

Healthcare Practices and Beliefs

Illness is believed to be caused by
an imbalance in the patients
spiritual, emotional and social
environment.
Another cause of illness is the
stress of trying to live in two
worlds at one time (native
traditional and modern societal
worlds).
Many American Indians exhibit a
basic distrust of the Western
Health Care System, based on
greed rather than care for the
individual.

Healthcare Practices and Beliefs

In many Indian traditions,
healing, spiritual belief or power
and community were not
separated and often the entire
community was involved in a
healing ceremony and
maintaining the power of Indian
medicine.
The term medicine is often
used to denote actions,
traditions, ceremonies, remedies,
other forms of prayer or
honoring the sacred.

Common Health Problems

Obesity
Alcoholism
Sexually transmitted disease

Common Health Problems

Leading cause of deaths:
Diabetes
Heart Disease
Stroke
Native American women have double the chance to have a
stroke than American women.

Highest suicide rate

Tuberculosis
Pneumonia
Cirrhosis (Liver Disease)

Healthcare
Remedies
Medicine is more about healing the person instead of
curing the disease.
Most Common Forms of healing:
Herbs, botanical and rituals
Ex: Tea, tinctures and salves

Purifying and cleansing the body are others types of

remedies.
Ex: Sweat lodge and special tea that induces vomitting.

Verbal Communication
Listen before you speak
Must know someone before talking to them for an
extended period of time.
Children do not state their opinion in front of adults
They do not ask direct questions to people they dont
know.
They dont speak for others regardless of who they are.
Everyone has their own opinion

Non-verbal Communications
Avoid direct eye contact
When you shake hands you
shake hands lightly
Culture is emphasized on
listening not speaking
Inappropriate display of
emotions in public and around
people they dont know
Verbally or non-verbally

QUESTIONS?

Works Cited

Culture-Sensitive Health Care: American Indian. (2000). Retrieved

November 20, 2014
Haverkate, R. (n.d.). 1 Health Care Beliefs and Practices Among Native
American Patients. Retrieved November 20, 2014.
Health Communications. (n.d.). Retrieved November 20, 2014
Native Beliefs. (n.d.). Retrieved November 19, 2014.